Museveni Wants CCTV Cameras Fitted With Bomb Sensors

Uganda is expected to install CCTV cameras with bomb sensors following recent terror attacks, says President Yoweri Museveni. In his address on COVID-19 and the security situation in Uganda, he reiterated the need for all vehicles, motorcycles, and motorboats to be fitted with security surveillance gadget as a remedy to curb high-level crimes.

“In my 2018 speech, I talked about digital monitors being installed in every vehicle and motorcycle. That project has delayed and I don’t know why,” Museveni said during the budget speech reading at Kololo. The project, he said, was being handled back then by the then Security Minister Gen Elly Tumwiine and current Works and Transport Minister Edward Katumba Wamala.

According to President Museveni, the installation of bomb sensors on CCTV cameras will help to curtail bombers targeting Ugandans. He revealed that such gadgets that can sniff out explosives inevitably uprooting terrorists, especially those who may be in Uganda.

Museveni said these CCTV cameras can make it easier for security operatives to crack them down, warning terrorists to surrender or be killed noting that the country’s security intelligence is on high alert. He asked his newly appointed State Minister for Internal Affairs, Gen David Muhoozi, to look into and ensure the revival of the plan to track all motor vehicles and motorcycles. While several directives have since been implemented, including the installation of street CCTV cameras, President Museveni has observed that vehicle tracking never took off.

According to CNN, the idea is not far-fetched. Koniku, a Silicon Valley-based start-up founded by Oshiorenoya Agabi in 2014, is trying to develop just that – high-tech sensors made from genetically modified living cells that can detect odors in the air. These cells are then fused with a silicon chip “that processes odor signals and passes them through a machine learning system for classification, performance improvement, and error correction.” Koniku partnered with Airbus to develop this technology.

“Weighing less than 350 grams and about half the size of a smartphone, the devices could be installed in multiple locations: on the revolving doors at the entrance to a terminal, at check-in desks, or at the entrance to an aircraft.”

While the issue of security can be prompted by a $3,000 Koniku et al, the deeper problem is human-centred; radicalised youth.